The War on Terror Just Got Worse

The war on terror just got worse. That's the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." Well, it didn't take "The New York Times" long to get back in the swing. The paper took a breather for the Reagan funeral, but today was right back on page one with another Abu Ghraib (search) story. That makes 43 front-page stories on the Iraqi prisoner abuse in the past 47 days. By contrast, the more objective "Chicago Tribune" has run 27 front-page stories.

"The New York Times", of course, is using the prisoner story to hammer the Bush administrationand will continue to do so, but here's the unintended consequence of that. By creating hysteria over Abu Ghraib, the much more important war on terror story has almost vanished from the news pages.

In Iran, thousands of people have signed up for suicide attacks on coalition forces and possibly onthe U.S. mainland, according to the Reuters news agency. A group called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign sponsored a conference and signed up the killers, all with the apparent approval of the Iranian government.

"The New York Times" did not cover this story. And most other American news agencies ignored it as well. Last week's unbelievable dog and pony show by Senators Kennedy and Biden once again placed the blame of Abu Ghraib on the Bush administration. And the senators did everything they could to mandate no coercive interrogations of suspected terrorists.

Meantime, foreign governments are encouraging suicide killers, and we are the targets. There's no question that America is not prepared to fight this terror war. We don't have enough troops in Iraq. We don't have the resolve back home. And we have a partisan media that refuses to tell the truth. We Americans are in more danger than at any other time in our history.

Terrorists are trying to take over the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the Philippines,Indonesia, and Afghanistan. Terrorists already control Syria and Iran. Both Pakistan and Iran have or willhave nuclear weapon capability. Figure it out.

Yet it's all Abu Ghraib, all the time in much of the American media, politics once again trumping your security. The war against Islamic fascists is a story for our times. This is the big one. This is the one that could end your life and the lives of your children. We need to wise up and toughen up. And President Bush may take a strong leadership role here. If Iran has signed up thousands of suicide killers, then something needs to be said and eventually done, now.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day"...

The International Red Cross (search), which is, well, kind of soft on terrorism, is demanding that Saddam Hussein either be released or charged by June 30, the handover day. The Red Cross apparently believes that once the new Iraqi government takes over, the USA has no legal authority over Saddam. Now I think we all admire the International Red Cross's compassion toward a vicious killer and this is just another example of how politicized the International Red Cross has become. It's not only ridiculous, it's embarrassing.